It was 8 p.m and Noah was finally going to bed, which meant I could put the Rays game on. Game 162. Tied for the Wild Card lead with the stupid Red Sox. And the first thing i see is the Yankees are ahead 7-0. Great, just great.
Let me explain something to you. I am a baseball fan. Always have been. I grew up rooting for the Braves cause they were the closest team to me. Then in 1990 they built the Thunderdome. It looked like the San Francisco Giants would be moving in, but that was blocked by the National League teams, and never happened. Than we were sure to get a team through the 1992 exapnsion for the 1993 Season. No, instead Miami and Wayne "THE GOD DAMN FUCKING DEVIL" Huizenga, outbid us and got my baseball team. (I still root for them to lose every game, and that bastard who i shall only refer to as the THE DEVIL to die from some horrible disease that causes anal leakage.) I watched those same Marlins win a World Series before I got a baseball team. Then in 1997 we were awarded a team for the 1998 season. And we were put into the American League, and not only that we were put in a division with the God Damn Yankees and Red Sox. Are you kidding me? Now how the hell do you compete against that?
The Devil Rays were terrible. And thats being nice. They didn't know fundamental baseball things, like how to field or hit. It was horrible. But I watched. Through all the beatings and jokes made at our expense I watched. If you dont believe me ask the wife who watches on a nightly basis still no matter what! Than 2008 happened.
In 2008, the Yankees were ravaged by injuries, and somehow we didnt suck as bad. In fact we were down right good. I can remember thinking in July that year, "Holy shit, i am watching a Rays game, and it still matters!" Normally it didnt matter after tax day! Than we were in. I remember Evan catching that foul ball near the 3rd base stands, and crying tears of joy I didnt know would come. I shaved my head into a Rayhawk that night, and went to the first ever playoff game the rays had a few days later. I was there for Game 1 of the ALCS against Boston too. And i remember the soft grounder right at Second Base, that Iwamura picked up and touched second base and the celebration went off behind the pitchers mound. I was in the stands for Game 1 of the World Series, which they eventually lost to Philadelphia, but I was in awe of the fact that we made it that far.
They made the Playoffs again in 2010. And easily, this time it was a rash of Boston Injuries that killed their season, and damnit if I didnt feel entitled to be there. But Texas was evidently more entitled, and the Rays season, and future hopes ended in that Game 5. I mean future because the offseason saw the Rays front office have no ammunition against the billionaires in New York and Boston, and our best player bolted for a division rival. To say hopes were high for 2011 was the higest form of sarcasm i could muster. But how bad could it be right?
How about a 1-8 start to the season. 1-8. Let that thought percalate for a bit. Oh and your best player sidleined for the next month with an oblique injury. Yeah good times in Tampa Bay! The only silver lining through all of this was that Boston was just as horrible. And we got the next, and we took 2 of 3. Than somehow a midget named Sam Fuld turned everyone around. He was amazing, he did everything and it lifted a flat team off the mat. Then James Shield's decided he didnt want to turn into Scott Kazmir, and threw 11 complete games for the year. Jeremy Hellickson lived up to his Rookie of the Year Pre-Season favorite reputation, and David Price was good (until September). The next thing that happened was the bullpen, which had one person return from the year before and he had been on the IR for it, gelled and became magical. It was amazing that after April and May they were leading. Than the Red Sox got hot, and were the best team in baseball for the next 18 weeks. And the Yankees, with no descernable rotation worth a damn, kept winning too. And the Rays decided that July was not their month, and took a vacation. And the status quo returned. Than something happened.
In August the Rays were the second best team in the AL. And neither NY or Boston were first. But we were 11 1/2 games back, and while it was good for momentum for next year, there wasnt anything more to be done for this season. Right? Enter the Rays new Heroes...... The RED SOX?
On September 4 the Rays woke up facing a 9 game deficit. Never in Baseball history had a team come back from a deficit like that, this late in the season. But Boston was much obliged to help the Rays any way they could. All year My father and I kept saying there was no way that the Yankees pitching staff could hold together. We were wrong. They did. However, the Boston arms were the ones that couldnt hold together. For April they were terrible. The starters won 4 games in a month. That doesn't seem plausible as i type it. But it happened. And don't get me wrong, the Rays were just as obliged to not take advantage of the Red Sox gifts to them. But with a 7 game deficit, the Rays swept the Red Sox in Tampa, and cut the lead to 4 games. The Sox lost 2 of three to the Blue Jays next, and the Rays couldnt take advantage and lost 2 of 3 to the last place Orioles. On to Boston for a 4 game set, knowing they had to win 3 of 4 at least. They won the first game, but let Boston off the hook in Game 2. But somehow they managed to take Games 3 and 4, putting them 2 games behind Boston for the Wild Card. Now to put this into more perspective, each team had 10 games left. Boston had 7 against the Orioles (Last place) and 3 against New York (1st Place). The Rays had 3 against the Blue Jays (who just beat Boston 2 of 3) and 7 against the Yankees (1st Place). Advantage Boston.
Except they couldnt beat the Orioles. Over the next 10 days they went 2-5 against the lowly Orioles. And 1-2 against the Yankees. The Rays would go 4-3 against the Yankees. On Monday they tied for the Wild Card Lead. On Tuesday, both Boston and Tampa came back to win and stayed tied for the wild card lead. Which meant one game to determine who goes to the playoffs and who goes home, or if we have a one game tiebreaker.
And enter where we started up above. Noah goes to bed. Yanks up 5-0, Boston up 1-0. Boston gives up a 2 run home and trails 2-1. At this point the Rays only hope is an Orioles win. Than it was 6-0 Yankees, and the Red Sox score on a balk (A BALK!) to tie their game at 2. Than stupid Dustin Pedroia ( I really hate him by the way) drive in another run and its 3-2 Boston. And just for good measure Andruw Jones hits another home run to put the Yanks up 7-0. Then it starts to rain in Baltimore with the Red Sox up 3-2. Rain Delay. Its 10p.m. And i did something i have never done in my life. I gave up.
I actually went to bed. And if you knew how this month had gone you'd understand how tired I was, and how much i didnt need another disappointment to end my evening. So I went to bed as the wife turned on Glee, which i would rather run over my foot with the lawn mower than ever watch. When it ended she was still on the Rays game, and they were down by 1. She tried to wake me up, and i slept. She tried again when they tied it. I still slept. I will never be more upset at myself for not getting up. So the rest of the night unfolds thusly.
In the bottom of the 8th, while the Red Sox are still in a rain delay, Tampa mounts a comeback for the ages. Sure it wasnt against the full might of the Yankees, but it was still a titanic comeback. They scored their first two runs on a walk and a hit batsmen. Than BJ Upton singles to make it 7-3. Than Evan Longoria, whoa has been a compelte washout the entire year, hits a three run homer to make it 7-6. They cant scratch the last run across to tie, and we move on to the 9th inning. The Yanks go quitely. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, Joe Maddon send up pinch hitter Dan Johnson. The same Dan Johnson who couldnt make it in the begining of the season, and was hitting .108 coming into the game. He's also the same Dan Johnson who in 2008 took Jonathon Paplebon over the centerfield wall at Fenway Park, and catapultated the Rays to their first ever playoff run. 2 balls 2 strikes, and he does it again. Are you kidding me? You know they say stuff like this only happens in the movies, but here it was unfolding. And who also got to see this marvel? The Red Sox, as they were 10 minutes away from retaking the field against the Orioles. They saw and they knew. From this point on every think happens simutaneously. The Rays work their way out of trouble for the next three innings, and Boston makes it through the bottom of the seventh and the eighth inning with nothing happening. Boston leads 3-2 in the bottom of the 9th and in come Jonathon Paplebon who mows down the first two hitters. Meanwhile in St. Petersburg, the Rays are up to bat in the 12th inning. Papelbon gives up two consecutive doubles, and the Orioles tie the game at three. BJ Upton steps out of the batters box because the crowd is roaring, seeing the Red Sox give up the lead. He promptly strikes out though. Papelbon gives up a soft liner to left, and Carl Crawford, once the Rays Great Ray of Hope and now Boston turncoat, can't quite make a sliding catch, and the Orioles score and win 4-3. Improbablity number a million for the night. Evan has to step out of the batters box as another roar goes up as the final is posted in Tropicana Field. He steps back in and hits a screaming line drive down the left field line that will surely fall for a double. Only it doesn't and the Rays can thank Mr. Crawford yet again. He had asked the Ray's to lower the left field wall near the foul pole so he could rob some home runs. Longoria's ball clears the low wall, that would have hit anywhere on any other part of the wall in the ball park, and the Ray's win 8-7. And I slept through it.
Really? How does that happen John? You slept through it. I am terribly disappointed in myself. I vow to myself and all that is Holy, i will never go to bed before the final out, the final seconds tick off, whatever, ever again! I remeber staying up to watch the Twins beat the Braves in the World Series, and I had to get up and go to school the next day. How did i not know better last night? I woke up to the radio and them saying the Yankees something, and i assumed we lost. And Jessica says the Rays are in the playoffs. I said you mean they play today cause Boston lost? No she says the Rays won and Boston lost. No game today. And i threw up in my mouth a little bit. She explained it all, and i died a little more inside.
So i guess i have baseball to watch this weekend! Bet your ass i wont be in bed before every game finishes!
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